Driving mechanism for bicycles.



Patented Feb. 6, 1900.

W. J. LLOYD. DRIVING MECHANISM FOR BICYOLES.

(Application filed May 21, 1897.)

3 Sheets-Shae! I.

(No Model.)

rm: unnms PETERS co mu'rauma. WASHIN No. 642,990. Patented Feb. 6, I900. W. J. LLOYD.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR BICYCLES.

(Application filed May 21, 1897.\

. 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

Patented Feb. 6, I900. w. J. LLOYD.

nmvms MECHANISM FOR BICYCLES. (Application filed May 21, 1897.)

(No Model.) Q1

3 Sheats-$heet 3 S k 3 Inventor;- W

THE "cams PETERS co. mamumu. wnnmaron, n. a

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFIQE.

WVALTER JOHN LLOYD, OF BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- l-IALF TO WVILLIAM PRIEST, OF SAME PLACE.

DRIVING'MECHANISM FOR BICYCLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 642,990, dated February 6, 1900.

Application filed May 21, 1897. Serial No. 637,558. (No model.)

To to whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, WALTER JOHN LLOYD, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Birmingham, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Driving Mechanism for Bicycles, Tricycles, and other Velocipedes and Motor-Vehicles, (for which Letters Patent have been obtained in Great Britain,No. 6,435,dated March 11,1897;) and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to driving mechanism for bicycles, tricycles, and other velocipedes and motor-vehicles in which the use of a driving-chain is dispensed with; and it co'nsists of the particular construction and arrangement of the parts of driving mechanism hereinafter described for transmitting the rotary motion of the crank axle to the driving traveling Wheel of the vehicle.

By the use of my invention a frictionless or practically frictionless driving mechanism is obtained and the loss of power which is occasioned when the rotations of the crank-axle are transmitted to the driving traveling Wheel through a driving chain-wheel or through gearing of the ordinary construction is avoided.

I will describe my invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 represents in side elevation a safetybicycleto which driving mechanism constructed according to my invention is applied. Fig. 2 represents a portion of the frame of the said safety-bicycle and the improved driving mechanism, drawn to a larger scale than in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan of the part of the frame represented in Fig. 2, the driving mechanism and part of the frame being shown in horizontal section. Figs. 4 and 5 represent portions of one of the gearing-wheels detached, drawn to a larger scale than Figs. 2 and 3.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawings.

The driving mechanism constituting my invention consists of the gear-wheel A on the crank-axle, which wheel A gears with a smaller gear-wheel B on the front end of a shaft 1),

which'turns in hearings in one of the nearly horizontal tubular arms a cof the back-wheel fork. A gear-wheel B at the rear end of the shaft b gears with a gear-wheel O, fixed on the huh (I of the back wheel. The several gearwheels A B B O are of the particular construction'hereinafter described.

Each gear-wheel consists of a circular disk or spoked ring a, from one side or face of which a series of equidistant pegs or short spindles ct a a project, (see Fig. 4,) the axes of the said pegs or spindles being parallel, or nearlyso,with the axis of the wheel to be made and equidistant therefrom. The said pegs or spindles a a are fixed to the disk or ring a, preferably by riveting, as shown. Onto these pegs or spindles rollers e e e are placed, the outer ends of which are of a slightly conical or conoidal figure, as will be seen by reference to the detached roller, Fig. 5. The distance between each pair of rollers is equal or approximately equal to the diameter of the ro1lers. The outer ends of the spindles a a c are supported by the short radial arms f f f of an armed ring or disk f, the nearly circular ends of the said armsff f being smaller than the outer ends of the rollers. When the gear-wheels are of large diametersuch, for example, as the driving-wheel A-I prefer to connect the spokes of the armed ring f to the spokes of the ring aby screws g g.

Gear-wheels constructed according to my invention are preferably arranged with the axis of one wheel at or nearly at right angles to the axis of the wheel in gear therewith; but the axes of the said wheels may be arranged at any angle with respect to each other which the construction of the frame of the vehicle may render necessary or desirable without impairing their efficiency. Where, however, as in the safety-bicycle represented, the axis of the wheels B B is arranged at an angle somewhat less than a right angle with the axes of the wheels A O, I prefer to fix the pegs or spindles a a of the rollers e of the said wheels 13' B so that they will cross the rollers c of the wheels in gear therewith at a right angle, as Will be best seen in Fig. 3, this being effected by making the pegs a a slightly inclined to the face of the disk 0. instead of perpendicular thereto. I also make the outer ends of the rollers e of the said wheels B B more conoidal than the outer ends of the rollers of the wheels A C.

When the gear-wheels described and represented are in action, the rollers of one wheel in passing between the rollers of the wheel in gear partake of a partial rotation on their pegs or spindles, and consequently there is little or no friction on the rollers of the two wheels passing into and out of gear with each other.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my invention- In driving mechanism of cycles andmotorvehicles, the herein-described roller toothed wheel in which the axes of the rollers are parallel to the axis of the wheel and project at right angles from one side of the disk, ring or plate of the wheel, the said rollers being partly cylindrical and partly curved or conoidal and having their smaller curved or conoidal ends most distant from the disk, ring or plate by which the rollers are carried and being supported by a series of radial arms projecting from the periphery of a second disk, ring or plate, the ends of the arms in which the axes of the rollers take being nearly circular and of a diameter somewhat less than that of the smaller ends of the rollers,substantially as and for the purpose set forth and shown.

WALTER JOHN LLOYD. [n s.]

Witnesses:

RICHARD SKERRETT, ARTHUR JOHN POWELL. 

